Alabama & Friends Festival at Sea cruising with country in the Bahamas

Thursday

Oct 24, 2013 at 11:00 AMOct 24, 2013 at 11:29 AM

For Sixthman project manager Brian Perry, planning a cruise with country greats Alabama is a cross between a sketch artist and a first date. Perry calls himself a chief happiness creator and makes it his job to “get to know you.” Sixthman, an Atlanta-based theme cruise charter company, has been rocking out on the high seas with more than 50 full-ship charters since 2001. And the planning for the Alabama & Friends Festival at Sea is no different, despite the band's stature.

MIAMI | For Sixthman project manager Brian Perry, planning a cruise with country greats Alabama is a cross between a sketch artist and a first date.

Perry calls himself a chief happiness creator and makes it his job to “get to know you.”

Sixthman, an Atlanta-based theme cruise charter company, has been rocking out on the high seas with more than 50 full-ship charters since 2001. And the planning for the Alabama & Friends Festival at Sea is no different, despite the band's stature.

The guys from Fort Payne recently released a new tribute album, "Alabama & Friends," and will celebrate the 40th anniversary of their first concert at The Bowery in Myrtle Beach, S.C., at sea. The four-day cruise, which also features a host of country artists like Scott Munns, Craig Morgan and Meghan Linsey, leaves out of PortMiami Thursday with stops in Nassau and Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas.

Beyond live performances and solo acoustic sets, the cruise will feature special themed nights (“70s, anyone?”) and activities such as bingo with Randy Owen and a belly-flopping contest with Jeff Cook.

“It's going to be a good ole' country music festival on the high seas,” Teddy Gentry said in an introduction video for the cruise.

Perry has been working on this cruise since late last fall. He said the fan experience onboard is “sacred,” well, until someone gets out of control.

“We have passionate fans that we work with, some fans whose passion was beyond what was appropriate,” Perry said.

While separate staffs handle equipment and artists' needs, Perry works day-to-day responding to social media inquiries and hosting meet-and-greet events with cruisers before they board.

But, beyond trying to meet the needs of super fans, the family atmosphere for this cruise, which Perry insists upon, is no joke either.

On the Alabama cruise Facebook page a couple months back, a cruiser posted that her mother had died and the responses were overwhelming. Perry was shocked at the level of kindness.

“This is a community that hasn't even met onboard yet,” he said. “And her Facebook page just blew up.”

Anthony Cave is a multimedia journalist based in Miami, Fla. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and CruiseCritic.com, among other outlets.